Diamonds and Dogs

12/21/17

Long Island Iced Tea (LTEA) has been drinking too much of their own drink. The maker of Long Island brand ready-to-drink teas is surging 166% as they plan to initiate a major rebrand in order to pivot its focus to blockchain technology instead of beverages. It will still operate Long Island Beverages LLC as a wholly owned subsidiary and continue to produce premium iced teas. The company believes that emerging blockchain technologies are creating a fundamental paradigm shift across the global marketplace, with far reaching applications across all industries. A true statement, but I'm not sure the management team of a beverage company is the right team to expand blockchain.

Pacific Gas and Electric (PCG) taking a hit due to the wildfires in California. The electric company's stock is down 17% to a three year low after suspending their dividends on its common and preferred shares, citing the potential liabilities the power company faces from the October 2017 Wine Country wildfires. Forty-four people were killed, as many as 21,000 homes and 6,100 autos were destroyed and $9.4 billion in commercial and residential insurance claims have been tallied by the state. PG&E is warning investors that customers would have to share in its costs if payouts related to the fires exceed the more than $800 million in liability insurance it carries.